First-Generation Students Become Next-Generation Scientists

President Obama hosted his sixth and final White House Science Fair,
welcoming student competitors and winners from a broad range of science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competitions. The President
established the tradition of a science fair in 2010 to help honor and
inspire students in STEM. This year, first-generation New York City students at Baruch
College Campus High School had the opportunity to present their subway vacuum cleaner to the president and Secretary John King. Find out more about their journeys that took them from knowing little or no English to joining the
L-MIT Baruch InvenTeam to the White House in this Homeroom blog.

Former Teacher Inspires Kids As SuperCyclingMan

Former British elementary school teacher Will Hodgson read a book about superheroes to his class one day. After that, he decided to be a superhero himself. Hodgson is now biking around the world in a red cape and blue tights. He visits schools and asks students to share their dreams. Now $19,000 and one year into his goal of raising money for charity, Hodgson is showing no signs of slowing down (Geller, APlus.com).

Stanford Prof. Stops Lecturing, Students Learn More

Nobel Laureate and Stanford University Professor Carl Wiemandropped the lecture format from his class in favor of active learning methods. The result? His course failure rate fell by 12 percent and test performance went up by half. Now he wonders why other professors don't make the same change. The physics professor hypothesizes that it has something to do with the fact that universities aren't that concerned with the quality of their teaching, and thereby continue to practice outdated teaching methods that he equates to bloodletting in hospitals (Westervelt, NPR).

Lessons Learned from Three First-Year Teachers

The Hechinger Report has spent the year following three first-year teachers who came into the profession with different training experiences. There's no shortage of metaphors to describe the sometimes 16-hour days these teachers endure -- fraternity hazing, jumping into the deep end, drowning -- and it'll probably bring about some nostalgic feelings for anyone who was a first-year teacher once upon a time. Some of the questions tackled in the three-part series include the relative value of different teacher-prep programs and the sustainability of the work (Mader).

What We Heard from Educators This Week

5. "I teach here because I have the autonomy to ensure every student is able to chase their passion or interest" (Teacher, Nevada). 4. "Teacher leadership is both a noun and a verb. It can be a title, but it's mostly the way we behave in our positions" (Teacher, New York).3. "If you can Google the answer, then I didn't ask the right question. Challenge students to discover their own pathway to learning" (Teacher, Georgia).2. "When I'm mad or sad, I would go to the library to get a book. You don't even need money to get a book. You just need a library card!" (Fifth Grader, New York) #LibrariesTransform1. "We need to find a way to evaluate schools on how many electives students take, not just on student results from core classes" (Teacher, Nevada).

U.S. Department of Education

THE TEACHERS EDITION - ED Teacher Newsletter

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